The Discovery
by TheVioletGleek
Summary: When Dess moves to school, she begins having weird dreams with horrible creatures. She never imagines that they could be anything more. But two kids at her school keep crossing paths with her. Do Melissa and Rex know something about these dreams? Maybe...
1. Chapter 1

Melissa sat with her hands so tight on the strap of her book bag her knuckles turned white. She could feel the first day of school apprehension. The entire school was filled with nervous minds, buzzing in her head. The annoying sixth graders, feeling on top for being in middle school, yet their minds raced with fear. Where's my first class? What if the teachers are mean? What's my locker combination? Can I get stuffed in my locker?

She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the feeling of the dominant eighth graders, like they were so special. They screamed on the bus and in their minds, reuniting with old friends.

She was going to lose it.

As they reached the last bus stop, Timmy Hudson jumped on the bus, laughing with all of his obnoxious friends. They ran to the back of the bus, scaring the nervous sixth graders to the front of the bus. While one refused to leave. Melissa watched curiously as the sixth grader, about eleven, crossed her arms stubbornly. "I was here already, I have about ten pounds in books, and I'm not moving." Melissa closed her eyes and centered her mind around the girl's. Her name was Desdemona, preferred to be called Dess, and she was smart. Really smart. Her mind practically flew with numbers and calculations. Right now she was figuring the odds of saving her seat.

"Little girl needs to learn a lesson!" Timmy grabbed the girl's book bag and began throwing it around the bus. Dess only sat there, her mind figuring the best way to get it back. Suddenly one of Timmy's friends missed the book bag, landing it right in Melissa's lap. "Hey Goth girl, over here!" Melissa gritted her teeth together and took the book bag, rather plain, and stood up. She'd show them Goth girl.

"Hey sixth grader!" She tossed the book bag over to Dess, who looked up surprised. Her smile said 'thank you' and she took a firm hold of it as Timmy and his friends got yelled at to sit down by the elderly bus driver. Melissa was about to smile back when her taste came to her for the first time. She'd tasted it before. At Midnight. She halfheartedly smiled back and turned around. She needed to talk to Rex.

Ten minutes later they arrived at school and the voices inside Melissa's head exploded. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Here we go." She stepped off the bus and towards the school, waiting for the end of the day.

* * *

Melissa walked over to Rex's locker, she already knew where it was. "Hey." She said, absentmindedly.

"What's wrong?" Rex always knew if something was on her mind. It was as if he were the Mindcaster. She shook her head.

"Nothing's wrong exactly, but there's this sixth grader-"

"Gonna give you trouble?" She shook her head. She kept her mind open for people who would give her trouble, meaning they would have annoying minds that would give her hopeless migraines.

"No, she smells…familiar. Remember how I said I've been tasting something for a while? At Midnight? Well she's the smell. Or exactly like it anyway." Rex frowned and closed his locker.

"I wonder if she has the Focus." Before Melissa could reply Timmy came over and shoved Rex into the locker.

"Another new year, huh Rexie?" He laughed and smacked Rex's head so hard his glasses came off. Melissa stepped forward and slapped Timmy.

"You bitch!" She exclaimed. Timmy only studied her for a minute. Then he smiled evilly.

"Hey Goth." He grabbed her collar and pushed her into the locker. Her back came in contact with the lock, making her cry out. "You ruined our fun." He said, "So don't think you'll get away with nothing." He pushed her to the floor, and she stayed there, balling her hands into fists.

"Stay away from Rex and I." She stood up, her eyes blazing. The bully scoffed.

"Or what?" Melissa reached for one of the gloves she was wearing, beginning to take it off. Before she could finish, Rex grabbed her arm.

"Come on Melissa." He said, an urgency in his voice. Melissa glared at Timmy for a second more, then started to her next class with Rex. None of them noticed Dess around the corner.


	2. Chapter 2

"Why are you late coming home?" Rex sighed. Great, his dad was home from work. The old man was used to him being home by two, but the school had changed the time to get out of school.

"They changed the times!" He called out. His father stood up, reaching a height of over six feet. Rex wanted to shrink into nothing. He smelled the booze on his father's breath. Drunk already?

"Bullshit! Where you been boy?" He grabbed his belt and lashed it out, striking Rex's face. He stumbled, and hit his head on the coffee table. He winced and bit his lip, trying not to cry out in pain. The old man loomed over him. "You think that's pain?" He stomped over to the table and picked up a glass.

Something had happened. Something bad. His father wasn't usually this drunk by now. But what?

The old man had smashed the glass against the wall. Only the end of the glass was still together. He ran over to Rex. "I'll show you pain if you really want it." He circled around Rex, like a panther stalking his prey. It was scarier than a darkling. Finally he brought down the glass on Rex's head, making it break. Rex cried out in pain. His father only laughed louder. "I'll make a man out of you yet!" He grabbed Rex's hair and picked him up, making Rex stumble along with him. They went out the back door and he threw Rex to the ground. He coughed up a little blood, and tried to stay conscious. His head was sticky with blood.

His father pushed him towards the bottom of the house. "Go on Rex, go with the spiders!" He leaned close. "They'll smell your fear, so you better get over it." He kicked him in the side and sat down in the chair in the backyard. Rex crawled under the house, feeling fear in his throat. What had happened? His father usually didn't send him under the house. "Find anything boy?" Rex opened his mouth to respond, but his dad had already grabbed his foot and was pulling him out. "No? Then let's go inside." Rex limped to the house, a shard of glass stuck in his leg, dirty from crawling under the house. He sat down in the chair.

"Stand up! You're not a wuss, you can stand." Rex painfully stood up. His father smiled, and walked over to the aquarium. Rex shivered. The spiders. He grabbed two of the hairy spiders, and put them on his skin. "Feel that Rex? That'll make you into a man." Rex had to stay still as the spiders crawled over him, and during the rest of the night while his father kicked, beat, and whipped him more. Finally his dad got tired and went to bed. Rex crawled to bed, taking time to wash his face and take the glass out of his leg and face. Right before he fell asleep he felt a calm in his head. It was Melissa, checking on him.

When Midnight arrived that night Rex opened his eyes, wondering why he was so sore. Then he remembered. He got out of bed, and saw that his leg was still bleeding. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his leg. He washed his face one more time and took a look.

It wasn't so bad, his head was swollen, but it would be down by morning. The scrapes on his face looked like his new cat had scratched him. According to him, his cat scratched him all the time. He lay down and waited for Melissa to arrive. For a minute he thought he heard a darkling, but it was silent. He was just being paranoid.

But then he heard it again. He sat up in bed, looking around. He quietly got up and walked around the house. Nothing.

He went over to the back door, grabbing a clean, steel spatula on the way out. "Assassination" He whispered to it. Slowly he walked around the yard, looking for the hiding darkling. He didn't want it around when Melissa showed up. But he couldn't find or hear anything.

Just when he was about to go inside something swiped his back. He turned and saw a darkling, younger one, with blood on his claws. No doubt his back would be bleeding. "Assassination!" He screamed and threw it at the darkling. It missed.

He had no more metal. He was about to turn and run when a stainless steel handle hit the darkling in the back. It exploded in a shower of blue sparks, and the cat turned and ran. He stood up shakily from where the darkling had knocked him down. Picking up the handle, he saw it was a car door handle. He closed his eyes in relief.

"You okay?" He jumped at Melissa's voice. Of course that's where the handle came from. "Hello? Rex?"

"I'm okay!" He called. She appeared over the fence, dropping down gracefully. She walked over and turned him around.

"Damn, he got your back good." He sighed. She walked over to him and examined the wound. "It'll be fine." She said. "But you might want to put something on it." She touched his shredded hoodie. He'd taken to hoodies ever since his dad had started hitting him hard enough to leave marks. "Your jacket, on the other hand, is gone." She smiled, then frowned, touching his head with a gloved hand. He winced as it ran over the cut on his face from the glass. "What happened here?"

He shrugged. "Must've scratched me there too." She watched him, eyes narrowed, for a minute. Then shook her head and started towards Rex's house. "Where you going Cowgirl?"

She turned around and smiled. "Let's chill on your house for a while."

He frowned, confused. "On my house?" She laughed.

"Yup." She took a hold of the wood on Rex's patio and pulled herself on top of the railing. "Coming?" She held out a hand and he took it, helping to get on he wooden railing. Melissa looked at the roof and thought for a second then jumped, grabbed the edge of the gutter. She eased her way up, then helped Rex up. "What's this skylight?" She asked, carefully making her way over to the glass in the roof. Rex went over too, and thought.

"It's in our attic." He said. She looked thoughtful and then nodded. "We can use that from now on." He nodded. Then sighed.

Melissa looked over. "What's wrong?" She asked. Rex only shrugged.

"Nothing." He murmured, and lay down. She crawled over.

"No, something's wrong." She closed her eyes, and Rex forced himself not to think about his dad, the spiders, and the glass. She opened her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. "Strange, it's hard for me to get into your mind tonight." He shrugged and closed his eyes.

"I'm just tired." Melissa studied him, then sighed in defeat.

"Fine." For a while they stayed quiet, just looking at the passing moon. When the moon was close to setting Melissa silently stood up and jumped off the roof, landing on her feet. Rex sat up.

"How'd you do that?" He asked.

Melissa smiled up at him. "It's the easiest way to sneak out of a two story room." She said, then ran over to her bike. Rex smiled. She was…interesting. She was his best friend, his only friend, and he wanted more than anything to be able to tell her his problems. But there wasn't anything she could do, so why burden her?

With one more sigh, Rex slowly made his way off the roof and into the house, falling asleep just as Midnight ended.

((Poor Rex. L)


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, a few notes. 1) Is it just me, or is the font messed up? Maybe it's just me... 2) Sorry, I have NOT been updating. My mom took away my computer (For no reason. She owes me) and then I was behind on school work, so writing was on the bottom of my list of things to do. 3) This is NOT my best writing. I literally did this last summer on a rainy day because I had nothing else to do. I'm so happy that people are actually reading this, because I know that Midnighters is not a popular series. So thank you all!

Dess groaned as her alarm clock went off. The first day of the second week of school. She reached over and pressed the snooze button, then just turned off the alarm. She didn't want to be late.

She got up and made her way to the bathroom, dead tired. She'd had the dream again.

She'd been having the dream for the past three weeks now, ever since she had moved to Bixby. She'd wake up at exactly Midnight in her dream, and everything would shine blue. A giant moon would be in the sky, and everything would freeze. It was wonderful, except for the fact that everyone was dead in her dreams. She'd go around every time, her parents were dead. It was a terrifying part of her dream. Another thing was the creatures that went around in the blue time. Panthers, snakes, and tons of others. They seemed to leave her alone, but once a little snake had bitten her, and she screamed at it. Only when she began to hit it with her new necklace with the town pendant on it did it let go, and it seemed to scream. From then on she carried it around, and tried to figure out why it had caused her so much pain. It wasn't a big pendant on the necklace, only about two inches wide. The only thing that she had found that was continuous was the number of rays on the star, thirteen and the number of links on the chain. Also thirteen. Maybe it was the number. Or the fact it was steel.

She took a quick shower and blew dried her hair. She sighed as it took forever to comb out. She would get it cut this weekend. After eating, brushing her teeth and changing, she grabbed her book bag and went out the door.

When the bus came she avoided the back, she didn't need another run in with that seventh grader, who she had found out to be Timmy. She saw the girl who had saved her back pack, and thought for a second about sitting with her. Then, as if she had called out her name, the girl's eyes snapped open and she looked directly at her. Dess went over to her and smiled. "Can I sit here?" Melissa watched her for a moment, then nodded. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, as if she were trying to sleep. Dess sat in silence for a while, then looked at the girl. "So, what's your name?"

Without opening her eyes, she responded, "Melissa." Dess nodded and played with the strap on her book bag.

"Thanks for saving my bag the other day." Melissa nodded. Dess decided that the communication, although was slim, was better than nothing. "So where do you-" Before she could finish Timmy came on the bus, with all of his friends following him. They were screaming and Melissa winced as if it caused her pain.

"They're so damn loud." She muttered. Dess looked at her, then took a guess.

"Migraines?" She guessed. Melissa opened her eyes.

"Yeah, kind of. I wish I could get distracted from it." Dess thought for a minute.

"What about music?"

"Music?"

"Yeah, just bring an iPod or something. You can listen to that instead." Melissa stared at the seat for a second, then nodded.

"Yeah, that might work." Then she closed her eyes again and was silent for the rest of the ride.

* * *

"Hey little girl." Dess sighed and turned around. Timmy Hudson was there, no one else in sight. She'd needed to get a book from her locker, so the normally busy hall was empty. "You know, Goth girl has problems with me too." He slammed her locker shut. "Kind of funny, it's like you're on a team."

"I don't have a problem with you." She said. He laughed and turned around.

"I think you do, and you had better stay away from Goth. I don't need three nerds to deal with."

"Or what?" The words slipped out of Dess's mouth before she could think about them. He turned around slowly and raised his hand.

"Or you'll get this, only ten times worse." He put his hand back to slap her, only to have it grabbed. He got yanked around, and Dess saw Melissa standing behind him, twisting his arm painfully. "Get the hell off me!" He yelled, trying to kick her. She easily avoided his leg.

"Listen to me," She said, twisting his arm harder. "Stop messing around with Dess, Rex and I." Dess blinked. When did she tell her what her name was?

"I don't take orders from little wimps." Dess took a step forward and smiled.

"Looks like this 'wimp' is kicking your ass." She smiled at her first swear word. Her mom was right, you did swear in middle school.

Timmy stood up as Melissa released her. "I'll get you little wimps." He said, and strutted away. Dess and Melissa looked at each other, nodded slightly and then went their separate ways. Dess picked up her book and tried to think of an excuse to tell her teacher about why it took her so long to get her book.

* * *

"Fossilization." She whispered to the spoon, made in 2002, a multiple of thirteen. It was also steel, and Dess hoped it would help against the creatures tonight. It shimmered in the blue light, and she placed it on her bed. She checked to make sure the thirteen paperclips, Illuminations, Assassination, Demonstration and so on, were still on her window sill. She grabbed Fossilization and opened her window, slowly stepping onto the soft grass. She took a deep breath and headed out into Midnight.

((So Dess is figuring out Midnight on her own. Smart girl. Melissa kind of knows she's a Midnighter, but doesn't want to admit it, so she's ignoring it. Sigh, I luffers Melissa but she can get annoying sometimes.))


	4. Chapter 4

Melissa watched as the new girl sat down next to her on the bus, smiling. Her mind tasted familiar again, and she had remembered the sense of hesitancy she had felt coming from her the night before. Dess had been nervous about her 'weapon' but it had worked in keeping away the slithers. It was amazing how smart this girl was, figuring out that darklings and slithers hated new metal, and multiples of thirteen. Maybe she could survive Midnight on her own. Yet when she woke up each morning she found evidence it was real, and a panic would set in. If only Melissa could tell her it wasn't a dream.

Melissa's head was back, she had her iPod with her, and the loud music of Evanescence was pulsing through the headphones. It did distract her, just as Dess had said. The sixth grader sat down, and pointed at the headphones in Melissa's ear. Melissa smiled and nodded. Dess, instead of pestering her with questions as most people would have done, sat there with her own iPod in her ears. For the rest of the bus ride it was like that, and they parted ways without a word of goodbye. Yet her mind didn't seem disappointed that they didn't talk, almost inspired. Like Melissa had thought before, this girl was very interesting.

The rest of the day went fairly uneventful. Timmy was absent, so there were no negative run-ins. A few new teachers were annoying, but other than that there wasn't really much going on. Melissa spent most of her day listening to Rex and Dess's minds. Dess, the genius, was in most advanced classes and understanding it all. Even some of the big numbers running through the sixth grader's mind confused Melissa. But it all was clear, even boring, for Dess. There was something odd about her, but maybe she was just smart.

Rex was edgy, he had been lately. Melissa had tried to get him to cave, but he refused to. Now he put almost a barrier on his mind, keeping out any troubling thoughts. And making it difficult for her to get into his mind. In ninth period Science, the last period of the day, Melissa grimaced as the minds in the entire school grew more excited, even the teachers were impatient for the end of the day. It was too sharp, too much boxed in excitement. Then she remembered her headphones, still in her pocket. She took them out and unlaced the tangles out of them. She attached them to her iPod and, nonchalantly putting her hood up, stuck them in her ears. She managed to get through the last five minutes of class without getting caught.

At her locker Melissa grabbed her stuff and quickly made her way over to Rex's locker. "You're really starting to piss me off, you know that?" Rex looked up, trying to look confused, but his mind was racing with excuses. Melissa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He was really trying to hide the panicked feeling inside?

"What are you talking ab-"

"Oh God Rex, you really think I don't know you're hiding something? You get new marks everyday, not from Darklings, you're on the edge all the time and worst of all you're keeping secrets from me!" She brushed her gloved fingers along the scar on Rex's face, from the night the darkling had struck him. "I'm worried about you Rex."

For a minute Rex stared at her, a sad look on his face. Then he sighed and stood up. "I wish I could tell you Cowgirl, I really do." He closed his locker and walked away, leaving Melissa feeling hurt and confused.

* * *

"Extraordinary" She whispered.

The little metal chain that had fallen off her ceiling fan was small, but it was metal nonetheless. Her hoard of steel had run out, so she and Rex were making a run to the dump sometime this week. Lighting had flashed just at Midnight though, and she was curious to see what it looked like frozen in blue time. She opened her window and looked out, seeing the impressive bolt to the north. It didn't look too far.

She looked at her wind-up watch. Five minutes after midnight. She jumped out of her window, curling up into a ball and covering her head. She landed in the bushes, a little prickly but unharmed. "I'll have to get a ladder one day." She muttered to herself, grabbing her bike to go meet Rex. The new electronic security system her parents had bought would go off once Midnight ended if she went through the front door.

They met up a mile away from her house, heading the same direction. They had long dreamed of a frozen bolt of lightning, and here it was. What they would do after reaching it was a mystery. They mainly rode in silence, Melissa still a little aggravated about this afternoon and Rex still uncomfortable with it.

After half an hour of hard biking, Melissa thought her legs were going to fall off. "Let's take a break." She panted. Rex nodded and slowed his bike. They pulled into a field and rested their bikes under some trees. It was dry under the tree, but the two were still soaking wet from riding through the frozen downpour. Melissa shivered, the rain had penetrated the warmth of Midnight, and she hadn't worn anything over her tee and hoodie. Rex noticed and took off his poncho.

"Forget something?" He asked, handing it over. She nodded and took it gratefully. She watched the frozen rain for a while, its beautiful crystals hanging in midair. Then she herself froze, a sudden taste reaching her. Dess.

She was getting closer, they must've be close to her house. She was walking around, amazed at the display in front of her. Then it turned to fear. Melissa closed her eyes and leaned her head back, casting farther. Rex left her alone, he knew better than to interrupt. A darkling was in front of Dess, and the psycho-kitty wasn't happy that there was a new Midnighter in town. It was young, and thought it was smart. But Dess was smarter. She pulled out a long metal pointer, stretching it out to full length. "Ventriloquism." Dess whispered and flung the pointer out like a sword, hitting the darkling on it's side. The darkling's fur began to burn as white and blue sparks flew everywhere.

"Wow." Melissa whispered, opening her eyes. She looked over at Rex. "Our little guest has skill." Rex frowned, confused. She realized that she hadn't told him much about Dess. "You're not the only one who's been keeping secrets." She muttered, then sighed. "The new girl, Dess, she's a Midnighter." Rex blinked, almost agitated.

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. But she's pretty kick-ass. Just fought off a darkling with a pointer named 'Ventriloquism.'"

Rex arched an eyebrow. "What's her talent do you think?" He would get over not knowing first.

Melissa shrugged. "I don't know, what are the ones you know from the lore?"

Rex thought for a minute. Melissa knew he was happy to put his Seer knowledge to use. "Let's see, obviously Mindcasters and Seers. But I've read of two other ones, although there are probably tons more. Acrobat, which are practically weightless, and can sort of fly. Then there are Polymaths, who are really smart." Melissa nodded. Rex was right, Seer knows best.

"She definitely a Polymath, she observes everything and looks at the numbers., the little dork," They sat in silence for a while. "We'd better start heading back." Melissa said, standing up.

Rex looked forlorn. "But what about the lightning bolt?" He asked. Melissa held up her watch.

"Think we can get to it in five minutes?" For the first time Rex noticed how close the moon was to setting.

"Hell! If I come in late my dad will be pissed." Melissa frowned.

"He's not asleep yet?"

"No, he was awake when Midnight rolled around." Melissa thought about her own parents, but they were most likely asleep in bed.

"Why don't you sneak in through your window?" She suggested.

"Locked."

"Why'd you lock it idiot?" Rex only shrugged. "Well how about the skylight?"

Rex looked thoughtful, then nodded. "Yeah, I'll try it." He stood up too and got on his bike, pedaling as hard as he could, Melissa close behind. She wondered exactly how pissed his dad got.

((Oh crap, what is Melissa gonna do? Keep reading to find out, duh!))

Another note (And I may have told you this before) This is NOT my best writing. I wrote this at least a year ago, when my writing skills were horrid. But I'm too lazy to go through and edit. ;) I 3 you all!

Yet ANOTHER note: I just realized that I swear in this story. Why does that fascinate me? Good question. xD Bai!


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